Monday, January 12, 2009

The Bank Of England Pushes For Secrecy

One of the oldest central banks in the world, The Bank Of England, is pushing through legislation that will allow the bank to print money without declaring it. The Telegraph in the UK reports on it here.

It appears that without the legislation, the Bank Of England doesn't feel it can properly overhaul financial institutions:
The ostensible reason for the reform, which means the Bank will not have to print details of its own accounts and the amount of notes and coins flowing through the UK economy, is to allow the Bank more power to overhaul troubled financial institutions in the future, under its Special Resolution Authority.
Lord James of Blackheath had the following to say about it while debating the issue in the House of Lords:
Remove [this] control and there is nothing to stop an unreported and unmonitored flooding of the money market by the undisciplined use of the printing presses.

"If we went down that path we would be following a road which starts in Weimar, goes on through Harare and must not end in Westminster and London. That is the great fear that the abolition of that section will bring about – but the Bill abolishes it.
Quite right.

8 comments:

Douglas Porter said...

Unfortunately, in the long run, it will merely mean inflation.

Josh said...

Yea, hyperinflation will never occur in the developed world...

Douglas Porter said...

Hyper or servere, it's just inflation.

Josh said...

So inflation isn't important no matter how large?

Douglas Porter said...

Ah,,, did I make you to type my point for me? Inflation only matters when it causes damage.

Josh said...

Then you don't understand the redistribution of wealth inflation causes. Inflation always causes harm.

Douglas Porter said...

I wholely disagree. Inflation does not always cause damage.

Care to prove that assertion, or are you only interested in making me prove my points?

Josh said...

Well, I'm drunk right now, but, before I go to the effort and finding rationalization to support the inflation distributing wealth to the rich, I need to make sure you don't understand this....

When the central bank lowers interest rates, the elite have closer access to the easy money. They spend it before prices change, but as this new money is introduced into the market, the prices go up, so by the time wages are adjusted for the new money, prices have already gone up. So the elite have the advantage of spending the new money on old prices, while the workers feel the pain of inflation without wage increases until later...you disagree with this assertion?